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Archive | July 2016

I promised I would explain the nicknames and I have decided to start with Pam otherwise known as Shop Babe. All the ladies in the group are creative one way or another. But Pam probably would have gotten an A++ in High School if she had taken shop class. What am I saying? She probably did take shop class. I’ll get back to you on that.

Not sure if any of you are familiar with Flea Market Flip on HGTV. It has now become one of my favorite shows. For those of you who have never heard or watched the show, two teams spend an hour at a flea market. In addition to the time limit, they are given $500 to find three items that they must re-purpose based on the assigned projects. Whichever team makes the most money on their newly designed pieces wins money. So you have to be a good negotiator and you must have a creative vision. Some of the designs created are amazing.

Pam and her husband Tom would win the flip challenge hands down. One of Pam’s sayings is, ‘I can do something with that” and she really can. I have seen some of her projects and I have two favorites. One is the center island she and Tom made from an old door they found that can now be found in their newly remodeled kitchen Oh yes they remodeled the whole kitchen themselves. The other is an old chicken crate that she used to make a storage bin for her wine glasses.

We just recently had a craft session and she designed these earrings we all made. The main element, a penny. Brilliant! See the picture below.

And just for the record when you saw the nickname Shop Babe who thought that meant Pam loves to shop? Go on raise your hands. Well it’s fun to shop with her too. Especially when she finds a treasure that you scratch your head and say what were you thinking and she says ” I can do something with this”.

For some reason, I have never really been into nicknames however the ones our group came up with for each other seem to work. There is a story about how each one came about. I plan to dedicate a blog post to each group member so that you can get a feel for their talents and personalities.

So each will be revealed All in Good Time my pretties, All in Good Time.

It is rare that you find a job that you love and a group of colleagues that ultimately become your friends but that is what happened to me.

I was working for a company that I hated. Actually hated is too weak a word. Despised is a better choice. The job itself was ok. I was a software system analyst for a telecommunication company. I was initially drawn to the company because its business was building and launching satellites. I have always had a fascination for space. Sadly the company was poorly run and I found myself with a month to find a new job.

I was looking through the classified section and it just so happens there was an Ad for a job at a hospital near my home. It was for a software/manager position for a Home Health Agency. It sounded like a dream job with a five minute commute. My mantra is there are no such things as coincidences so I applied and got the job.

For those of you unfamiliar with Home Health, it is a service that provides home bound people with nursing and therapy services as well as aides. The service is available for people needing a couple of weeks of care after surgery or a hospital stay or for those with a chronic illness who do not qualify for hospice and have nursing and therapy needs.

It takes a special type of person to work in Home Health. At this Agency they were the best. They were smart and independent, compassionate and dedicated to providing excellent patient care. After working n a dysfunctional environment I felt like I had come home.

Things change. The hospital was bought by a new company. The agency was merged with the new company and everyone got scattered like the wind. The good news, a group of us formed a wine club and have met almost every month since the merger. How the wine club really started is a good story. So check in for my next post.